France/Piracy: 2,086 domain names blocked by Arcom in 2023 (1,284 in 2022)

Arcom blocked 2,086 "illicit sports domain names" illegally broadcasting sporting competitions in 2023, compared with 1,284 in 2022, according to the French regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication in its report "Lutte contre le piratage de contenus sportifs et culturels - Bilan 2023" (Combating the piracy of sports and cultural content - 2023 Assessment, available to download in French), published on 30/04/2024.

Of these 2,086 blocked domains, 542 were as a result of court injunctions and the remaining 1,544 via notifications from Arcom. A total of 3,370 domain names have been blocked since 01/01/2022, the date on which Arcom was set up and a specific system to combat sports piracy in France was introduced (adopted in October 2021).

"Between 01/01 and 31/12/2023, the system enabled four sports rights holders (Canal+, beIN SPORTS France, the LFP and FFT) to protect 11 competitions or sporting events," said Arcom. These were the Top 14, the Roland-Garros and Wimbledon Grand Slam tournaments, the Formula 1 and MotoGP World Championships, the 2022 World Cup, the…